Sick and Tired
Bus threw the ball as far as he could, but to no avail.
It never reached the other side.
The timer ran out, and the ball only reached the 10-yard line. The Tits won by one measley point against the other team. As the games progressed, the state of the team began to deteriorate. Bus took off his helmet, trying to catch his breath. His face was pale, and breathing seemed to become more painful as time went on. He was coughing constantly…
He was clearly sick.
Despite this, Bus still went to the game and played his best. It was clear that the renowed football player could not put in as much effort as he hoped. However, he hid his illness from everyone and decided to suck it up. He couldn't wait to get home and rest.
The question was; how does he get past the crowd?
He knows how this is going to turn out; as soon as he leaves the field, that mob is going to swarm him. Even if he wasn't doing well, that still wouldn't cure their delusions. They would treat him the same as they would any other day. He gathered some of his guards to make a wall around him. With a deep breath, he trudged out of the stadium.
"Dang, is he okay?"
Tired looked over at Joy when she said that. She wasn't sure what she was talking about at first, until she glanced at Bus. Her face of boredom turned into a face of curiousity and concern.
"I don't know. He was completely fine last week. He was just his cheeky self."
"How did you know he was cheeky?"
"That's not important."
"Tired-"
Just then, a large swarm of fans stampeded around the both of them. Somehow, they got out of the stadium before Bus did. The guards did their best to push the crowd back.
"Goodness!" Joy exclaimed. "I always forget how crowded it gets when everybody leaves."
Tired wasn't listening. She was just trying to push herself and Joy through the mass of people. She finally felt something smooth.
It was Joy's car.
"Found your car." Tired yelled back to Joy.
"Great! That means yours is right next to mine! Let's go!"
Tired looked back and hesitated. He could see Bus, sickly and disoriented, trying to push his way past the obstacles. He almost felt bad for him…
Oh, who was she kidding?
Of course she felt bad for him.
She took a deep breath and pushed her way back into the traffic. Joy's smile dropped in bewilderment and surprise.
"Tired, what are you doing? Your car is right here!"
Tired was only looking up. She was looking for something tall…
Or someone. 6"10 to be exact.
Suddenly, she felt a hand. At that moment, Bus looked down in confusion and was about to flinch his hand away when he saw her. With an exhausted smile, he waved.
"I knew you'd come for me."
Tired avoided his gaze.
"Just shut up and follow me. I'll get you out of here."
Bus didn't even struggle. He let her head the way.
"Woo! Thank goodness that's over!"
Bus kicked his feet up onto Tired's ottoman and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't get too comfy. I just took you here, because your car was completely surrounded. There's no way you would've been able to go anywhere within the span of a few hours."
"You could've driven me home, you know. You offered to let me stay here."
He was right…
And it was the second-worst decision she had ever made in her entire life.
Why did she even do that!? I mean, sure, she felt bad for the clearly-vulnerable football player that could barely stand on his own two feet, but she could've kept her mouth shut. He was a hassle anyways. He had to convince his guards that he would be fine without them and that she was "just his friend". She didn't know why, but something about that sentence annoyed her. She felt like she could do with some duct tape to put over his mouth. Yet, here he was, in a completely new change of clothes that Jace left in her apartment and wrapoed up in a blanket like a cocoon.
What have her standards become?
"Not gonna answer? That's fine. Your reaction says it all."
He laughed, and in the middle of his laughing, he started to cough.
"Geez. You're going to hack up a lung!"
In a croaky voice, he responded quickly.
"I'll be fine. Do you have some Mucinex or something?"
She begrudgingly got a bottle from her medicine cabinet and put it on the table beside him.
"One night. That's it. Then, you're going back home."
"I've got it, I've got it. I'll…" He held his head and sighed." "Be sure to not burn the place down."
Tired looked at him for a few seconds with her arms crossed before walking off to her room.
"Holler if you need anything." She said over her shoulder.
"Hey…Tired, was it?"
Tired perked up and looked behind her.
"Yeah?"
Bus smiled at her and looked her right in the eyes. It wasn't one of his cocky smirks, either. This one seemed…genuine.
"Thanks. For everything. I really appreciate it."
At that moment, for the first time ever, she looked at him and smiled back before walking away.
It was the most beautiful smile Bus had ever laid eyes on.
(Hey, guys! Author here! Sorry for the short [and probably really crappy] chapter. As you can clearly tell by today's theme, I'm not feeling it today. The chapter next week will be longer; I promise!)